They dig their burrows close to farms, gardens and orchards, so a… Gardening with free range chickens is one of my favorite things to do. Before you rush out and purchase flowers you’ll want to take into account the size of the garden space surrounding your coop and your planting zone. I can’t totally bring myself to be annoyed at the goldfinches for pecking at the zinnias b/c they look so pretty: yellow birds against the sumptuous reds, pinks and oranges of the zinnias! Zinnia dye requires twice as much flower material as weight of goods to be dyed, 2:1, so be sure and plant a large patch of zinnias! Chickens and ducks love eating grasshoppers. Marigolds. Hubbies lawn is to treated(nuclar lawn) my son calls it LOL. I have the same difficulty with my foraging chickens – dirt and holes everywhere. Scarlet Runners beans add a nice touch, provide shade, the Hummers love them and they are edible to boot. They instinctively know what to eat and what not to eat. Our spring batch ate everything in sight … I also like the fact that the seed you have used will not break the bank! Watch out for poisonous plants as well. Enjoy and have fun planting your coop garden! My flowers are safe on the outside of the coop and run… However, any climbing vines I plant they can get to through the chicken wire run fencing. You have Zinnia listed at the last plant on your list that deer (supposedly) rarely eat. Lance Olsen, I am looking forward to planting around my coop, all this is great info. In the spring of 2012 I planted one large packet of Botanical Interest Morning Glory,Something Old Something New all around the coop in hopes of seeing a beautiful water fall of blue, purple and white blossoms cascading over the coop and clambering up the chicken wire fencing come fall. Daffodils, iris, narcissus, tulips and other bulbs are among the first signs … Wonder if morning glories are toxic to chickens and is this a result?! 5. Disclosure. The only problem: in the last few weeks something has started to eat/destroy/massacre them. Soils with low boron content can cause bud blasting and sluggish growth of branches. Just a nice FYI… your girls have asked me if you would please change Poulet to Poule. This year’s flock novices comprise 4 White Sultans and one very particular Buff Orpington. At 4-20 weeks they will consume roughly 0.25lb feed per day each and at 20+ weeks they will be eating around 0.3lb feed per day. Hello Hillside Happy Hens! The final application can be done in the first day of August. Thanks for the inspiration, Debbie! 5. You mentioned hollyhocks in context of keeping chickens. From her beautiful farm in Maine, Lisa Steele has contributed to the backyard chicken keeping community for more than a decade. http://www.gardeningcentral.org/planting_hollyhocks/planting_hollyhocks.html. Tall Plants Are An Important Design Element. Have a look at the photos I'm attaching. Which ever the case may be, surrounding your coop with old fashioned cottage flowers is one of the easiest and quickest ways I know to make your coop look as if it’s been a part of your landscape right along. I’ve found hydrangea to be a great addition to my yard in the areas near & far from the coop. They are on of my favorites too. There are several cultivars of “dahlia-flowered” zinnias … In addition, I'm often asked for a list of vegetables and herbs that can be planted in the garden that are safe for chickens to eat and a list of things that aren't safe. Thanks. Pigs that are kept as livestock usually avoid eating poisonous forage plants. Coreopsis We have GA red clay/dirt to work with and a limited budget. Thank you, Carol! Here’s a great page: https://www.timberpress.com/blog/2012/01/free-range-chicken-gardens-chicken-resistant-plants/. Read what you said about morning glories. They eat, eat, eat Zinnias! Grown from Renee’s Garden seeds: ” (Zinnia pumila) This beloved, old fashioned zinnia got its name because the sturdy, vigorous plants bear continuously for months, providing armfuls of sweet, candy-bright flowers to enjoy both indoors and out.Cut and Come Again blooms in a wonderful color range that includes cream, … After all, your girls work hard to give you fresh eggs every day. They grow quickly and abundantly and you can try your hand at home brewing with the hops cones after the flowers had passed. Hi there, How did I forget to mention that my girls are not free ranging?They have a rather large run where they have plenty of space to dig holes, take dust baths and scratch and peck! Along with eating weeds and bugs, my ladies absolutely love to forage for some delicious treats in the garden. I grew Zinnias from seed in last year's garden, and deer ate every last one that came up, before it ever had a chance to bud or bloom. In fact, giving them lavender to eat is one of the best ways for them to realize some of the health benefits. Yes, of course! looking forward to some sun so all this snow melts. Use grasshoppers' natural predators to rid your grass of adult insects. A little common sense goes a long way with keeping chickens. Make sure you choose plants and bushes that chickens don’t like to eat! When watering zinnias, sprinkle the water at the base of the plant only. Poulet refers to them as chicken on a plate and it ruffles their feathers a bit. Spring is within our grasp and there’s no better time than now to begin planning YOUR Cottage Coop Garden! My foraging girls dig up everything. I planted several bulbs and flowers last year and very little survived! Toads, snakes, birds and Ground Beetles (probably the most important) all kill slugs and snails. It never occured to me that Morning Glories might be poisonous to chickens but after I planted them in the coop garden I found an article that said they WERE poisonous to chickens if ingested. They take dust bathes and have holes everywhere. While Groundhogs prefer green vegetation, roots and barks form an important part of their diet as well. Chickens like them as well, but do more damage to crops. Chickens will eat a lot of pests including earwigs. Climbing vines and roses are a must for a touch of Cottage Garden romance.We’ve had great success with Morning Glories. In fact, they were the perfect finale to a bountiful season of classic Cottage COOP blooms! They do feed on nuts, but they don’t store them like their cousins, the squirrels, do. I can't for the life of me figure out what it is. All of these veggies contain solanine, like potatoes, and can be extremely toxic to chickens, especially in their raw state. This year's flock newbies include 4 White Sultans and one very special Buff Orpington. The liver is a filter of poisons I believe. Start growing Mexican zinnias in fertile soil. Natural Predators Hollyhocks produce seeds that dry naturally on the stem. Not so! Gardening using free range cows is among my favourite things to do. Now April, 3 of them have ascites aka water belly known to be caused by liver disease. However, water in the morning, never late in the day. Chickens or Ducks. Just never offer it in their feed dish. Hope this helps. Your flowers are simply beautiful and I sure hope I can follow your example. Good luck with your gardening this year! I’ve been wondering if they’d make a nice winter treat for the chickens You can grow them from seed from spring onwards. Or, maybe you’ve had your coop situated for a while now and would like it to blend in more beautifully with the rest of your garden scape. Chicken-Safe Foliage Plants. I have news for you. The stems and leaves are typically avoided by the chickens because they are slightly prickly. Many gardeners in warmer parts of the world are able to successfully direct seed their zinnias straight into the field, but here in cool Washington we start our plants in 72-cell trays in the greenhouse 4 to 6 weeks before our last spring frost. Always try to make sure that what you are planting around your chicken coop is safe for chickens to eat. Chicken feed can be expensive to provide throughout the year. Zinnias are annuals, so they’ll grow for one season and produce seeds, but the original plant will not come back in subsequent years. Feed the plants with a portion of fertilizer when sowing and another portion in late July. Shanks recommends rinsing the zinnias in cool water, shaking them dry and checking them thoroughly for bugs, which can hide under the large petals. You have also listed coneflower among their typical leave-alones. The only solution I’ve come up with is to lay down the cheap plastic fencing on the ground, staking it securely and then plant through it. Once it has died to the ground in the second year you can dig it up and make room for a replacement hollyhock or choose a different flower altogether. Conversely, excessive amounts of boron in the soil may slow down flowering 12 to 15 days. And, as you can see by the photos, they paid no mind to the Morning Glories at all! Foraging chickens have a better balanced diet that creates better eggs and meat. Along with eating bugs and weeds, my women certainly love to forage for some yummy treats in the backyard. There are even predatory slugs (Testacella species) which eat other slugs (cannibal slugs). Unfortunately, chickens can also cause a lot of damage to your garden. How do you keep them from digging up all your beautiful flowers? Dutch Bantam Chicken: Small yet Mighty Egg Producers, Penedesenca Chicken: Spanish, Dark Brown Egg Layers, 22 Cheap High Protein Chicken Feed Options to Replace Layer Feed, A Complete Shopping Guide to Buying Chicks Online, Heritage Breed Chickens and Why We Love Them, About Rhode Island Red Chickens: One of the Most Popular Breeds, Holland Chicken: A Useful and Critically Endangered Breed, 10 Steps to Prepare Your Chicken Coop for Winter, Feeding Chickens: How-To, Common Problems, Cutting Costs, What NOT to Feed, and More. Hope this helps? The amount that you should feed your ducks is not dissimilar to chickens. Can You Keep Ducks and Chickens Together? They require a full sun position to grow their beautiful big blooms. Give it the first season to get established and the second one to put on the show of a lifetime! The planting area in front of our coop is roughly 3 feet by 7 feet with just enough space for a handful of common cottage flowers such as Black-eyed Susan, Day-lilies, Hollyhocks and Tall Phlox. Zinnias yield soft yellows, tans and lighter browns. Zinnias fare well in dry conditions and can survive droughts. I recommend buying your hollyhocks in a gallon sized container and planting it in the late spring for best results. What is Medicated Chick Starter – Do My Chicks Actually Need It? Visit your local garden center for recommendations on flowers and flowering shrubs that thrive in your area or better yet, visit a friend or neighbors garden whom you admire. They’re easy to collect. Nasturtium not only attract bugs that eat the dreaded squash beetle larvae, the leaves and flowers are also edible for humans and make wonderful salad garnish. Good stuff!!! Great article Deb! That’s fancy French talk for chicken coop! At the 0-4 week stage they should be given free choice in order to eat what they want.